It’s definitely been a busy month. Here’s one week as an example….
Research
Reviewing for my dissertation defense on March 1.
Total research time: 4 hours
Writing
An hour of revisions to an article in progress, and an abstract for a conference paper.
Total time spent writing this week: 1.5 hours
Teaching
College Writing I: I graded essays and held individual student conferences this week. This is when in lieu of class, I meet one-on-one with each student for 15-20 minutes to go over their assessed essays and discuss their goals for themselves as writers going into the second alf of the term. It’s insanely time consuming–but at the same time, so helpful for the students.
Introduction to Narrative: On Monday they sat their midterms, which I graded over the weekend; on Wednesday we discussed the medieval Latin Arthurian werewolf text, “Arthur and Gorlagon”; and on Friday we had student-led discussions.
Total Hours Spent Teaching, Prepping, Assessing student work, Recording grades this week: 31
Service
I sat GSA office hours and answered email on Monday, attended a Preparing Future Faculty gathering and information session on Thursday morning, had an interview for a research assistantship Thursday afternoon, and attended a student leader’s meeting on Friday morning.
Total Service Hours This Week: 5.5
Other Scholarly Activity
There was really no extra time this week for anything beyond grading essays and midterms and meeting in student conferences.
Total Time Spent on Scholarly Endeavors This Week: 42
Nurturing My Self
Individual student conference weeks are among my most exhausting in any given term, so I did very little else this week workwise and really tried to focus on self-care. I had three good workouts, watched the Wales-France rugby match Friday night (go Wales!), slept in both yesterday and today, and am going for a hike this afternoon to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. I also enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a facemask after I finished grading midterms last night, and I scored a great pair of bright yellow pointy-toed pumps off of Ebay to pair with my denim shirtdress this spring–huzzah!
Melissa Ridley Elmes 